Thunder's Edge
Chapter 1 The door slid open quickly, and Henry jumped into the Cat Cave, annoyed at being interrupted. “What do you need me for?” Sharpfeather looked up; his ice-blue eyes had a confused look in them. “What do you mean,Henry?” Henry held up his left forepaw, showing the warrior his watch. “Remember? We hologram-chatted; you said it was an emergency.” “Oh yeah.” Sharpfeather’s eyes looked distant, as if he was looking inside of his mind. His dark brown, almost black, tabby fur ruffled as if caught in a sudden breeze. “I forgot to mention. It was not an emergency. I was just bored, so I called you.” Henry then shook his head in disbelief, rolling his brown eyes. “But-” He let out a sigh, leaving the conversation behind. “Where’s Char?” “Here!” A tortoiseshell head excitedly poked out from the hallway. “Henry. That hologram chat was fake. Ask Sharpfeather;he confessed to me himself.” “Yeah. I think I’ve already got that.” Henry said in sarcasm, rolling his eyes again. Charlotte poked her head back into the hallway after giving a brief, nervous smile. “Well, anyway.” Sharpfeather started to drag his paws along the floor, the beginnings of an exaggerated pace. “Could you help me get un-bored, ‘cause I’m bored and need something to do.” “Get un-bored yourself.” Henry spat in annoyance. ‘I’ve no ideas.” “Aww, come on!’ Sharpfeather begged,starting to whine like a tiny kit. “Helpmehelpmehelpmehelpmehelpme.” “You’re a thirty-five moon old warrior, seeking advice from a five moon old kit. Pfft. You can help yourself. Figure it out Sharpfeather.” Henry ran up to the monitor and started to watch the forest, then the Twolegplace, then the forest again. On the monitor of the Twolegplace, he saw his sister complaining about something as usual again. No surprise there. But other than that, everything seemed okay. Quickly growing bored from that, he turned back to the warrior. Sharpfeather had a pouty face, and Henry realized that he’d been poking him the whole time. “I’ve told you already.” He growled. “I am not getting you un-bored.” “Don’t want that anymore. I wanna turn on the monitor.” Sharpfeather’s eyes widened like a kit begging for a bite of his first prey. Henry leaped off of the chair. You’re so immature. “I heard that.” Sharpfeather said; Henry whirled back around, not realizing he’d said that aloud. Sharpfeather turned around in the chair, a creepily smug smile on his face. “Just kidding.” Henry let out a frustrated growl, murmuring to himself that Sharpfeather was deliberately being a dimwit to get attention. He sat patiently at the back of the room, watching the monitors as Sharpfeather browsed through pictures of the forest, then to see if any emergencies had happened. “Is Sharpfeather being a wierdo again?” Charlotte’s sudden mew made Henry jump and then fall over in surprise. Honestly, he’d not heard her coming; the jingle of the bell on her sky-blue collar was usually a dead giveaway. She looked over him, blinking in sympathy. “Sorry. Today is just not your day is it?” Henry flipped back over onto all fours and stood up. “No, not really. First: I hit my head on the bottom of my Twoleg’s bed when Piper screamed at me to get up this morning. Next, Sharpfeather hologram-chats me, saying that there’s an emergency and he needed my butt over here, so i hurried, which causes me to trip over a thorn and almost lose an eye on the way here.” Charlotte winced at this, then Henry continued. “ Now Sharpfeather’s acting like he’s got the sense of a newborn kit, and then you spooked me, which l know you didn’t mean to do, but still, my day sucks right now.” Charlotte opened her mouth to say something, but was interrupted by Sharpfeather, who had now grown serious. “Well,” he meowed. “Your day’s about to get worse.” Charlotte and Henry turned towards the tabby warrior. “What is it?” They both asked. Sharpfeather then ran over to a dresser beside the elevator, and took something out of the lowest drawer: his gum tube. It took a moment for the two young cats to register what was going on: Sharpfeather had received an emergency. Henry stepped forward. “Do you want me to come with you?” he asked. Sharpfeather shook his head regretfully. “No. This mission is too dangerous for you.” Henry pulled back suddenly. “ But I’m used to danger;I’m your sidekick. It’s even in my name: Kit Danger.” Sharpfeather popped a gumball into his mouth, changing into his uniform before he replied. “Henry, this might be too dangerous. This is a band of BloodClan warriors. They wear dog claws, sharpened to deadly points.” He shuddered as he spoke the next words. “My own mother died under their paws. If they can kill a grown cat, they can kill a kit as small as you.” But Henry didn’t listen. “I. Don’t. Care. I’m coming with you, Sharpfeather.” Then Charlotte sided with Sharpfeather. “Henry, he’s indestructible.” “And you’re not.” Growled Sharpfeather defensively, narrowing his ice-blue eyes in anger. “I don’t care what you say, you’re not going.” “I’ll quit.” Henry said almost simultaneously. “I’ll leave. I’ll leave and never come back. Ever.” Sharpfeather let out a long, loud sigh, before coming to a decision. “Okay,fine. But don’t hurt yourself.” He backed up to his tube, and it came down over him. “Be here in five minutes. I will leave without you any time after that.” “Okay, bossy.” Henry snorted. He took out his gum tube, and as soon as Sharpfeather was gone, he changed into his uniform. Charlotte stopped him as he was leaving, putting a paw on his shoulder. “Promise me. Stay safe.” “I will.” Henry said, backing up to his tube. It came down over him, and he nodded in affirmation, before he called the command and disappeared. Chapter 2 As Henry flew up the tube, he remembered Charlotte’s instructions. Promise me, stay safe. He also realized that he possibly couldn’t keep that promise. His paws touched forest ground, and Sharpfeather turned to him, his eyes a film of regret. “I hope you don’t regret coming with me, Henry.” “I don’t.” Henry said. “I truly don’t.” Sharpfeather appeared a bit uncomfortable. “In case you were wondering, this… band… of rouges, or should I say, savages, roost in a strip of land commonly known as ThunderClan’s Edge, even more likely known as Thunder’s Edge.” He looked straight forward, and he gave the signal to start walking. “From what I’ve been hearing, they’ve been roosting there for months.” “Why cause trouble now?” Henry wondered aloud. He had a sudden, deep feeling of regret, and he wanted to take the question back. “They’ve been growing in numbers, recruiting rouges and kittypets. They’ve chosen now to attack the Clans.” As they grew nearer to the ThunderClan border, Henry’s feeling of regret grew stronger. He paused momentarily, shook his head, then continued. Sharpfeather stole a side glance at him. “Scared?” “Terrified.” Henry admitted. Sharpfeather and Henry stopped, and Sharpfeather reached out a gloved paw to ruffle Henry’s head fur. “Guess what? My first battle:Completely had the guts scared out of me, even though I knew about my invulnerability.” “I'm vulnerable;I can be hurt. And I bet you're not scared.” Henry trailed of in his words and dropped his head to look at his paws. “Henry, I am scared.” “What? About me being scared?” Henry snapped his head back up; Sharpfeather shook his head,a chuckle barely escaping his mouth. “No. I'm not scared of that. Well, I am. Sort of. What I'm scared of is you getting hurt, Henry. Well, I'm scared of getting my fur ruffled, and-” Henry had stopped listening. He took something out of his belt and zapped Sharpfeather. “What was that for?” Henry shrugged innocently,and put the object back into his belt. “You were talking too much!” Was his excuse, which was very much true. “Alright,that's it.” Sharpfeather took something similar out of his belt and zapped Henry back, mimicking Henry's complaint mockingly. “You're a complete weirdo.” Henry muttered with a roll of his eyes. “Anyway, let's get going.” “Thunder’s Edge.” Sharpfeather and Henry stood at the top of a steep ridge overlooking a clearing that stretched several miles at least. It was very much windy, and a moment later a leaf near-missed Sharpfeather and hit Henry in the face. He slapped it off, before Sharpfeather took a leap off of the giant ridge. He landed with a dull thud on the ground, and Henry peeked over, looking down. “Are you okay down there?” He called as loudly as he could, already knowing what the answer was going to be. “Perfect!” Sharpfeather called back, beaming the largest smile that he could possibly manage. Henry rolled his eyes again. This cat could be really arrogant some days. He joined Sharpfeather at the bottom of the ridge. The tabby warrior was dusting himself off. He shook the dirt off of his head, before blinking and looking Henry straight in the eye. “Hey.” “Hey. Do you honestly in the most right-of-mind answer you have,could you please tell me where these rouges might be?” “ Do you mean us?” A voice sneered; the two cats whipped around. An older tortoiseshell she-cat was surrounded by many,many other BloodClan warriors. “BloodClan, attack!” Sharpfeather let out a howl of fear as he was overtaken by several BloodClan Warriors. Henry glanced around, frustrated as he realized that he was majorly outnumbered. He bunched himself before leaping onto a ledge on the ridge. Something wet and sticky dripped down the side of his face, and he'd realized he'd torn an ear. He gasped, pressing a paw to his left ear, before snapping to reality and leaping off, bowling into at a white she-cat at least twice his size. “Not the helpless kit you thought I was,huh?” As the last words were out of his mouth, he was flung high into the air by a larger brown tabby. Time seemed to slow down. Henry hit the ground with a loud thud, and with a groan, he attempted to stand. He gasped as pain lanced through his left foreleg. He'd dislocated it, but he tried not to think of worse possibilities. Ignoring it, he sprinted forward with a yowl that didn't seem to be his, and unsheathed his claws to gain ground. He bowled into several cars that had attacked Sharpfeather. The warrior, who freed himself, tore through the group like wildfire. “I'll go for the leader!” Henry nodded, pain shooting through his leg, and gasped, “Got it!” He shot forward, jumped into the air,and landed on the back of a silver-black warrior. The cat protested for a few heartbeats before falling unconscious. He dove into the mass of fleeing warriors, but there was a tortoiseshell standing there with an evil gleam in her eyes. It was the leader. She stood there, poised to attack, with a sneer on her face. “A kit? I never knew that the Cat was training a puny kit.” “I'm not just any kit.” Henry spat, lips pulling back into a snarl of hatred. “Kit Danger.” “A puny kit doesn't seem all that… What shall I say, that… dangerous?” Henry's temper snapped, adrenaline coursing through him as he streaked towards her. But she was ready for him. She caught him around the waist, and threw him into the air,then caught him by the scruff and threw Henry to the ground, head first. Darkness flooded his vision for a split-second, and he lashed out. His paws hit bare ground. Where was the she-cat? “You miss me?” The she-cat struck out with her reinforced claws at Henry's face. Pain tore through his left cheek, and he spat. “ You think I was going easy on you?” The tortoiseshell scowled evilly. “You think you're so dangerous, kit? That was my little warm-up. I'll show you what I really can do.” Darting to Henry's left side, too fast for him even in his weakened state, she tore through his uniform on his right side, she cut deep down, creating a gash. Henry shut his eyes tightly, fighting through his pain and fury, he called, “ Captain Cat!” The shadowy figure of his mentor shot like a bullet straight into the cat. “ Don't mess with him!” He growled furiously. She was thrown to the ground, and she cowered like a helpless kit, before dashing into the distance. Henry gave a nod of approval, satisfied, before his legs gave out under him. Before he hit the ground, Sharpfeather caught him, and supported his head with a forepaw. “Kit Danger…” His voice wavered and his words trailed off as Henry raised a paw to quiet him. “It's fine. I'll be fine. I-I'll wake up, and this day will all become a dream. This attack will never have happened.” “I'm not sure that's true.” Henry weakly raised his head to look Sharpfeather in the eye, no matter how hard it was to focus. “I've got a question.” “What is it?” Sharpfeather asked. “I-I did good right?” Sharpfeather nodded, and uncontrollable tears streamed down his face. “Yes.” Henry closed his eyes, letting darkness close around him like a deep, black pit. Chapter 3 round the Cat Cave paced a terribly worried Charlotte. Sharpfeather and Henry had been gone for longer then they'd promised. A sudden ring made her jump. It was a hologram call from Sharpfeather. She ran over to the monitor and answered it. Sharpfeather appeared, expression completely horrified. “What is it?” Charlotte had his expression matched perfectly. “It's Henry. He's badly hurt. The BloodClan leader got him.” The warrior replied. “I'm taking him to Firefeather.” “How long do you think you will be gone?” Charlotte asked. Sharpfeather shrugged. “By the looks of Henry's condition, not for a few days.” “A few days?! Sharpfeather, I-” Before the last words were out of Charlotte’s mouth, Sharpfeather hung up and disappeared. He's still not letting me answer? Does he still not trust me? She sat down and started observing the forest. A ginger she-cat was in the middle of sorting herbs, when she heard a distant, familiar yowl. Sharpfeather? The tabby tom stepped into her den; Firefeather saw that he was still in uniform. “You walked through the forest dressed like that?” She complained. “Do you want anyone finding out about your secret?” Sharpfeather lay the bundle down into the nest, and Firefeather realized that it was his sidekick Henry, otherwise known as Kit Danger. He was so blood-streaked that Firefeather hardly recognized him. The tabby tom stepped into her den; Firefeather saw that he was still in uniform. “You walked through the forest dressed like that?” She complained. “Do you want anyone finding out about your secret?” Sharpfeather lay the bundle down into the nest, and Firefeather realized that it was his sidekick Henry, otherwise known as Kit Danger. He was so blood-streaked that Firefeather hardly recognized him. She took a bundle of moss from her herb store and shoved it over to Sharpfeather. “I need you to get this as soaked as you can, but, please, change out of uniform before you do so.” Her eyes shimmering in sadness, she looked at Henry, then watched as Sharpfeather gave an impatient snort, before he walked out of her den. She took a huge wad of cobweb from her store, and moved to Henry. Sharpfeather’s thoughts were whirling as he trotted ever closer to the river. Henry, his apprentice, his sidekick, the one he’d chosen, lying horribly wounded in a nest back in ThunderClan? He couldn’t believe it either. Like Henry’d said, he wished that this horrible battle was a just a dream. Making sure that nobody was around to see, he changed out of uniform and headed straight for the river. As Firefeather applied the last of the cobwebs to Henry’s wounds, the young tom jerked his paws weakly in pain, then covered his face. “Do you want your mask off?” Firefeather asked. “Nooooo……” Henry moaned; clearly even half-conscious, he didn’t trust her even one bit. Then his head fell back, and he became fully unconscious once more. Sharpfeather sprinted into the den, jaws full of soaking, dripping moss. “How is he?” Firefeather shook her head with regret. “No better, I’m afraid. And do you really expect that within five minutes of leaving and returning?” Sharpfeather threw her an ugly look. She turned to a different subject. “Hand me the moss. We need to clean him up and get him out of his uniform. I’m afraid here in ThunderClan, I’m the only one besides Silverfang and Flameclaw that know about your identities.” Slowly, Firefeather and Sharpfeather had gotten Henry out of uniform, but when Sharpfeather tried to remove his mask, Henry batted at him, moaning a low, “Nooooo….” “But Henry-” Sharpfeather protested, then gave up with a loud sigh as Henry moaned again, and then shrugged. “He just won’t let me, will he?” Firefeather shook her head. “I guess not. Let’s get him cleaned up.” Having grown very bored of watching the monitor and waiting for Sharpfeather and Henry to return, Charlotte had started to explore more of the Cat Cave. She had practiced stalking a mouse in the hallway,then watched the monitor a bit more. But in her spare time, she would worry about Henry and Sharpfeather, tapping her claws on the floor. At least three days had passed- she couldn’t tell for she was deep underground- since Sharpfeather had promised that he would be back. But he was probably worried as well, and she respected that. At that that thought, she felt so terribly stupid about herself. She fluttered her wings and shivered. A loud triple beep echoed throughout the Cat Cave, almost making her jump. A moment later, there was a voice. “Charlotte! I’m back!” Charlotte ran out of the hallway; Sharpfeather was now sitting in front of the monitor. “Hey.” Charlotte murmured absentmindedly. “Why you back?” “Checking on you.” Sharpfeather looked at another monitor, avoiding her gaze. “You’re fine, right?” "I know you're worried as well, Sharpfeather. What is it?" Charlotte, Henry’s not better.” Sharpfeather turned around in the chair. “He’s worse Firefeather’s afraid that he may not make it.” His voice broke as he spoke the last words. As he arose from the chair, he stumbled slightly, before his legs gave out and he collapsed altogether. Tears streamed down his face, and he shook his head. “I made a mistake. Maybe Henry wasn’t meant to be my sidekick.” As Firefeather finished sorting herbs for the third time that day, she walked over to Henry and felt his head with the back of her paw. He’s burning up, the poor kit. She went over to her stores, took some feverfew and chewed it up for him. She waited patiently as he licked it from his muzzle and swallowed it. Firefeather replaced the cobwebs and redressed his wounds, like she’d done for the paws three days now. She had treated the usual: Thorns in the paw, as well as bramble scratches, border skirmish wounds- usually minor- and whitecough, but Henry was her number one priority. She could not lose him. Not when this kit had plenty of life still in him. Chapter 4 As soon as she’d heard the news, Piper had completely thought that she was dreaming. At around the same time her brother had disappeared four days ago, Kit Danger had disappeared as well. And nws like that travels fast. Before long, every single cat: kittypet, loner, or rogue, had heard about it. Even her parents. But Piper went back into her thoughts as she realized something. Her brother had diappeared around the same time. Could he somehow be involved? Once Sharpfeather had rested, he joined Charlotte in a walk to Henry’s Twoleg nest. The went around back, climbed up the tree leading up to Henry’s Twoleg’s room, and climbed in through the window after some protests from Sharpfeather. They ran downstairs to meet Henry’s parents. “Hey.” The two said at nearly the same time. It was Henry’s father, Jake who greeted them first;he bowed his head in greeting, then proceeded to look at Sharpfeather suspiciously. “Who’s this?” Before Charlotte could say anything, Sharpfeather bowed his head as well. “I’m Henry’s mentor from back in ThunderClan.” “‘Kay.” Jake turned around to leave, but then he turned back again with a questioning look in his gold-amber eyes. “Have you seen Henry? He went to ThunderClan the other day but never returned. Has something happened that I should know about?” Sharpfeather and Charlotte stole a quick glance at each other, then Sharpfeather replied. “He sprained his paw in battle training. Our medicine cat said he’s got to stay off of it for a week or two.” “Good. I’ve been wondering why he’s missing.” Jake gave a sniff of approval, before scampering off to the kitchen. At that, the two cats left Henry’s nest and headed back to the forest. Sharpfeather broke down halfway to the Cat Cave, but this time, Charlotte didn’t intervene whatsoever. She just stared out in the direction of the ThunderClan camp.